HYDERABAD: The Telangana State Pollution Control Board (TSPCB) had recently imposed an environmental compensation of `18.25 lakh on eight pharmaceutical units each, including Hetero Labs, Aurobindo Pharma and Mylan Laboratories. Further, it had slapped Rs 9 lakh penalty on one pharma unit, located at the TSIIC SEZ in Polepally of Mahbubnagar district, for violating pollution control norms.
The details pertaining to environmental compensation, as per the ‘polluter pays’ principle, was submitted by the TSPCB to the National Green Tribunal (NGT), where a petition on the matter is being heard.
It is, however, learnt that the environmental compensation to be paid by the pharmaceutical companies is set to increase by almost three times, as the NGT, on Friday, directed the TSPCB to review the amount to be levied, and file a revised report on the same.The development comes after Sravan Kumar, an advocate and the petitioner in the case, pointed out to the NGT that the TSPCB, while calculating environmental compensation, had considered only 365 days of violation by the pharma companies at fault.This was despite the TSPCB mentioning more than 1,000 days of violation by the companies in the individual notices it had sent to them this month over environmental compensation.
Irregularities spotted
In fact, when Express analysed the notices sent by the TSPCB to the individual companies, it was observed that the number of days of violation in most cases was above 1,100 days, and in some cases, more than 1,300 days.Express also found that the TSPCB had clubbed three units of a particular pharmaceutical company as one, while levying environmental compensation. As for another company, it slapped environmental compensation separately for two units of the same firm.
The NGT had constituted a joint committee of Central and State government officials in 2019, after it received complaints of pollution by pharmaceutical companies located inside the Polepally SEZ. The TSPCB had submitted the joint committee’s report last year to the NGT.The pharmaceutical companies found to be in violation of pollution control norms are Hetero Labs, Shilpa Medicare, Aurobindo Pharma(two units), APL Health Care, Mylan Laboratory, Evertogen Life Sciences, Shri Kartikeya Pharma and Amneal Oncology.